Mushroom Genesis

Thanks to the encouragement of one of Alice’s colleagues at work, we’ve decided to bite the bullet and try growing our own mushrooms. While Shiitake mushrooms prefer oak (which we don’t have) for their substrate, we learned that they also do well on sugar maple, which we have a lot of. The logs need to be 36-40″ long, and harvested as close as possible to when the spawn arrives.

So this afternoon, I loaded up chainsaw, safety gear, and myself into the Scout and went sugar maple hunting. The 40 acres we have on the corner of Cabbage and Cemetery roads was the most likely place. Over the years, previous owners have harvested from the edge of the forest closest to the road, probably because it was close to the road. Therefore, there are lots of clumps of sugar maples growing that need thinning. In about 5 minutes of walking, I found a likely tree, and cut it down.

Of course, it hung up on a poplar tree. I measured and cut approximately 3′ sections hoping the tree fall down, but it didn’t. Once it got close enough to the poplar tree, I was able to push it over and finish the job. The goal was to get 12 logs, no bigger than 8″ and no smaller than 3″, and at least 36″ long. I managed to get 11 logs out of that tree, and called it good.

When I got the batch home, I emptied my gear, covered the logs with a tarp, and shoveled snow on the whole thing to hold down the tarp and keep the logs cool. In theory, the spawn should ship tomorrow from Field and Forest Products. As soon as it comes, I hope to drill the holes, insert the spawn, and let the mushrooming begin.